Jason Lim’s work is guided by elements of nature: earth, water, air and fire. Focusing on the interaction between body, matter and spirit, he employs long meditative processes of repeated actions to create sculpture, performance art, photography, sound and video. Previously Artistic Director of Future of Imagination (2004–2016), he has shown work at Western Australia Museum Boola Bardip (2022), Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (2018), Jakarta Biennale (2017) and the Venice Biennale (2007).

Alchemy–Breath is a site-responsive performance rooted in Chinese alchemy, Taoist cosmology, and the quiet endurance of the body. Beginning as the sun sets and nightfall begins, the artist inflates discarded trash bags with his breath, tying them onto a tree branch which he then rests on his body. As the bags accumulate, their quivering silhouettes catch the shifting light—luminous in daylight, softened by twilight, and dissolving under darkness. Each inflation of a discarded bag becomes an act of offering, reshaping what has been cast aside. As the breath forms accumulate, their combined weight alters the body’s alignment with gravity. Reflecting the Taoist notion of breath (氣) as a vessel for the spirit, the performance inhabits the tension between illumination and shadow, aspiration and entanglement.